Blue-winged Olives
Baetis
Tiny Baetis mayflies are perhaps the most commonly encountered and imitated by anglers on all American trout streams due to their great abundance, widespread distribution, and trout-friendly emergence habits.
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With a bit of help from the microscope, this specimen keys clearly and unsurprisingly to Hydropsyche.
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Wbranch on Mar 30, 2015March 30th, 2015, 6:37 pm EDT
Just wanted to mention an experience I had over the winter and ending today with a new pair of Simms Freestone waders. Firstly I didn't know when I bought the Simms Freestones (my very first pair of Simms) that any Simms product with the name "Freestone" is manufactured off shore and not in the Bozeman shop.
Anyway I found out in September that my new pair of Freestones (I'd worn them just about a dozen times) were leaking in the seat area. I called them and they gave me an authorization number to send them back. I dallied around for months and didn't ship them back until March 19. While I was in Jamaica they called and left a message indicating the waders were "not repairable" but due to them being less than one year old they fell into the replacement category.
I called them today and they told me the Freestones were out of stock in my size and I initially decided to upgrade one level to the "Headwaters" model for $350. Well one thing led to another and when the fellow asked me how much I fished and I told him "about 100 days a season". He told me I should get a better, more durable wader, with more Gore-Tex so I wound up getting the new model G3 with a fleece hand warmer pocket, a zippered fly box pocket and some zinger connection points for $200 shipping included. This sounded like a pretty good deal. One point he made that I liked is at the G3 level there are two bootie sizes for the "Large" size. One is 9-11 and the other is 11-13. My Freestones were only available in 9-11 so my big #12 foot always felt jammed into the bootie. Also the bootie feet on the G3 are a true left and right for additional comfort. He said I'll have them by early next week and it looks like I saved about $60 which I can use for my Montana non resident license.
Anyway I found out in September that my new pair of Freestones (I'd worn them just about a dozen times) were leaking in the seat area. I called them and they gave me an authorization number to send them back. I dallied around for months and didn't ship them back until March 19. While I was in Jamaica they called and left a message indicating the waders were "not repairable" but due to them being less than one year old they fell into the replacement category.
I called them today and they told me the Freestones were out of stock in my size and I initially decided to upgrade one level to the "Headwaters" model for $350. Well one thing led to another and when the fellow asked me how much I fished and I told him "about 100 days a season". He told me I should get a better, more durable wader, with more Gore-Tex so I wound up getting the new model G3 with a fleece hand warmer pocket, a zippered fly box pocket and some zinger connection points for $200 shipping included. This sounded like a pretty good deal. One point he made that I liked is at the G3 level there are two bootie sizes for the "Large" size. One is 9-11 and the other is 11-13. My Freestones were only available in 9-11 so my big #12 foot always felt jammed into the bootie. Also the bootie feet on the G3 are a true left and right for additional comfort. He said I'll have them by early next week and it looks like I saved about $60 which I can use for my Montana non resident license.
Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years.
Entoman on Mar 31, 2015March 31st, 2015, 7:22 pm EDT
IMO, Best waders on the market for industrial use Matt. Great job on making lemonade out of the lemons from your experience. I think you'll be very happy with them...
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
Wbranch on Apr 2, 2015April 2nd, 2015, 4:36 pm EDT
Received the waders yesterday. Tried them on today in the house and with a pair of heavy synthetic socks my feet felt jammed into my size 13 Simms Freestone wading does. Then I had a heck of a time getting the wader and bootie off of my feet. I was disappointed but decided to call Simms and tell them I wanted to send them back and get credit back to my credit card. So I told the Simms rep to just send me a new pair of the Freestones when a new order arrives. Since I had them almost a year they could only pro rate the refund so I decided even though they too were tight at least I'd get a new wader without any out of pocket expense.
Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years.
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